I love the scene that Luke paints in his account of the Christmas story. Some shepherds are out in the fields when, suddenly, angels show up. The shepherds respond like everyone else who sees an angel in the Bible responds. They hit the ground with fear (by the way, it’s for this reason, Joseph Smith was either making it up, or he was visited by a former angel, aka, a demon, he says in the book of mormon that an angel showed up, and he had a casual conversation with it!). After a quick explanation of how to find the baby Jesus, the multitude of heavenly hosts bursts into praise! Can you imagine how that might have sounded? Those shepherds got a quick picture of what worship really looks and sounds like.
What I wanted to do really quickly today was take a look at what is was that the angels sang. We’re so used to hearing this (after all we hear it every year when we watch Charlie Brown’s Christmas), that I think the meaning of what they say slips by. Either that or we’ve so politically corrected the angel hosts’ message, that it’s become a justification for the relativism that seems to pervade today’s society. The angels say that God received glory that night, and then they say why God received glory!
What happened that night was one of the most amazing miracles in all of history, along with the Resurrection and Creation. What happened that night was that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. God became man; the Father had sent His Son! Why? Because from Adam on, there was emnity between God and man. Despite His revelation to the Israelites, they still consistently failed to draw near to Him. What happened that night was that God began the work of reconciling man to Himself. He predestined that His Son would go to a cross, and pay the price for our sins. He knew that His Son would be despised and rejected, but He still pursued reconciliation. He still desired there to be peace. That is why God receives glory! Because He showed us so much love that night, He showed us what kind of a God He is. He is not the god of Islam that requires perfect obedience, He is not the god of Hindu or Buddhism, or any of the religions that require a lifetime of not quite enough so that in the end he can heap on punishment. No, He is a God who sacrificed so that we might be saved!
When you celebrate Christmas this season, remember the cross, remember what the peace it was that God brought to us that night, and remember Christ our Savior and worship Him! Merry Christmas!
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